NL: Given that this is the first portable installment of the Paper Mario series, what, if anything, did the team approach differently compared to the console versions?

Mr Kensuke Tanabe: Personally speaking, I am always thinking of ways in which we could make the best use of the actual hardware, rather than just focusing on whether it is a handheld or a home console. We went for the handheld this time because the visual style of the Paper Mario series is especially well-suited to the 3D effect made possible by the Nintendo 3DS system.

NL: Are there any current plans or ideas in the team for the future of the Paper Mario series, either on 3DS again or perhaps on Wii U? We’re sure fans would love an example or two of concepts under consideration, or even ideas that you’d personally like to see come to fruition.

Mr Kensuke Tanabe: I am personally interested in making a new game in the series. However, I can’t give you any more details than that at this time.

Mr Kensuke Tanabe: The Paper Mario series started when we introduced RPG elements as a means of differentiating the game from the platformer series. Through the inclusion of this story and the characters we wrote to fit that story, we ended up giving the game a unique character. However, for Sticker Star, Mr Miyamoto asked us to create a game using only characters already found in the Mario world rather and not any of our own. So instead of focusing our attention on the story or characters we focused instead on paper. We tried to add as many creative uses of paper as we could to the game. The theme of the game is stickers and we also put a lot of effort into this (including paperisation). Creating a world and story using only Mario characters meant for example we had to give each Toad a distinctive character even if they looked the same. So it was quite a challenge but I feel that we succeeded in overcoming it.

Yeah, because, you know, people don't care about new and interesting characters in an RPG, what they really care about is paper.

What in the world is Miyamoto thinking these days? His obsession with mechanics and novelties has gone too far when he's actually ordering his subordinates not to make new content for games. I was excited through the Wii era because it seemed like Nintendo was finally going back to what made their games good in the beginning, but now it seems they've taken that success as a justification to do whatever they want and miss the point more than ever. I thought this game looked like kind of bland and lacking in new characters, and now I know why. The irony here is that the new mechanics introduced in this game are the elements people are complaining about.